Many people lack a factual understanding of events in our region because the media report them inadequately. We blog here because our daughter Malki, murdered at the age of 15 in a restaurant massacre in Jerusalem, was a victim of jihadist hatred and barbarism. For jihadism and terrorism to end in Israel, New York, Madrid, London and everywhere else, people first need to understand the scale on which it is happening and why. This ongoing war is killing us.

Thursday, October 08, 2015

08-Oct-15: In Australia, the pistol-wielding youth and his friends start to look like something... mysterious

The victim of the fifteen year-old gunman's lust for
killing: Curtis Cheng, on the left, with family [Image Source]

Because it's happening in far-away Australia, the unfolding events surrounding a murder carried out by a black-robed fifteen year-old boy who arrived in the country as a refugee is not getting much attention away from the location of the savagery.

Four people have been arrested over the murder of a police accountant in Australia which investigators think was terror-related. Detectives believe the suspects, aged from 16 to 22, were involved in planning the killing of Curtis Cheng as he left police headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta on Friday. The 58-year-old, who had been with the police force's finance department for 17 years, was shot in the back of the head by Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad. The 15-year-old gunman, who was born in Iran, was shot and killed at the scene by police. The investigating team have also contacted Turkish police to search for the killer's sister, who left Australia the day before the deadly attack. New South Wales Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn said: "We suspect that a terrorism event has occurred and we suspect that they may have some knowledge..."

Tim Blair who blogs for the Daily Telegraph from Sydney has some pungent comments about the unwillingness or inability of many to face up to what has happened. Here's what he writes in a post from October 6, 2015 entitled "The ancient Islamic festival of If If":

When an
incident is imbued with a single drop of Islam, it apparently explains
everything, and blinds us from asking the right questions.

The
“incident” to which Wakim refers involved a murderer whose mosque attendance
was obsessive, who wore traditional Islamic garb on the day he set out to kill
innocent people, and who screamed “Allah! Allah!” in the street after shooting
a father of two. This wasn’t a “drop of Islam”. It was a reeking bucket.

We are so
hasty to roll out the loaded labels, such as “terrorist” and “gunman”, even
when referring to a 15-year-old boy.

Very well,
Joseph. We’ll call him a terrorist gunbaby instead.

If Farhad
Khalil Mohammad Jabar was a gun-wielding white teenager in school uniform,
rather than a brown teenager in a black robe, would we have labelled him a
mixed-up kid with mental problems or a radicalised, cold-blooded terrorist?

If he was a
flappy-tailed crustacean, would we call him a lobster? If he was still alive
and prancing around outside our house with a gun, would we call the police? If
he was developmentally delayed and wrote for Fairfax, would we call him Joseph
Wakim? These important theological questions have vexed scholars throughout the
ages.

If a white
teenager had opened fire inside a mosque, would we have labelled him an angry
misguided youth?

Beats me.
Call me if it happens.

If we are
serious in wanting to break this cycle of violence and acts of terror, we need
to stop using dehumanising labels and stop absolving ourselves by shifting
blame to Islam.

What “cycle
of violence”? The kid was never provoked. And what “dehumanising labels”? And
why the need to absolve ourselves from
a crime he committed?

The complex
reality…

Here we go.

...is that
many factors line up to trigger such violent acts, including broken families,
mental health, perceived lack of alternatives, current circumstances,
loneliness, detachment, exposure to violent videos and a twisted moral compass
that defines heroism as a violent means towards a rewarding end. These are the
push factors that recruiters exploit, especially if the recruit is vulnerable
and lacks a good parent.

Youth peers
are more likely to derail the radicalisation pathway by planting seeds of doubt
and offering other pathways towards redressing injustices. These might include
youth groups, political parties, fundraising for charities and letter writing.

Attention,
young brainwashed beheading-ready jihadi children destined for Syria or police
stations in Sydney! Might you be more interested in writing a letter instead? Why, of course you
are!

Islamophobia
and bombardment with hate messages communicating that Australia does not trust
Muslims push “them” to the margins.

Flip that
idea around, son, and you might be on to something. We’ve seen a fewhatemessages
delivered lately, and they’re all coming from one side.

The weapon used by teen terrorist Farhad Jabar was believed to be sourced from a Middle Eastern crime gang and police suspect it was handed to the schoolboy at the Parramatta mosque. Details about where he got the gun and its original source were established early in the investigation but the Telegraph was asked by police not to release details until after today’s raids.

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THIS ONGOING WAR is not part of the activity of the Malki Foundation which was founded by us, Frimet and Arnold Roth of Jerusalem, on September 9, 2001. But it is inspired by the same tragic circumstances. The Malki Foundation (also known by its Hebrew name: Keren Malki) is a memorial to the life of our daughter, Malki. She's in the photo below this paragraph. Malki was murdered at the age of 15 in a massacre in the centre of Jerusalem carried out by Hamas.

Beyond its function as a remembrance of a beautiful life, the foundation provides tangible, concrete, invaluable support daily to several thousand Israeli families from every part of the religious and socio-economic spectrum: Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Druze and others who care at home for a seriously disabled child.

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This Ongoing War: About this blog

Many people lack a factual understanding of events in our region because the media often report them inadequately. Our daughter Malki, murdered at the age of 15 in a restaurant massacre in Jerusalem, was a victim of jihadist hatred and barbarism. For jihadism and terrorism to end in Israel, in New York, in Madrid, in London and everywhere else, people first need to understand the scale on which it is happening. This ongoing war is killing us.